Written for and dedicated to my beautiful friend Ortal :)
Michelle pulled into what seemed to be the last free parking bay in the car park at CTU and switched off the engine. She checked the time; the clock read 8:17am. She still had some time before she was due in the office.
She hummed along to the radio as she cleaned up the bits and pieces she had left lying around before a knock on the passenger side window startled her. She looked up and smiled at the person staring back at her. After she switched off the radio, she leaned over and unlocked the door.
Tony opened the door and climbed in settling awkwardly on the passenger seat.
"Hey" he smiled at her.
"Hi." Michelle felt her heart begin to race.
"You okay? Did you manage to sleep at all or have something to eat yesterday?"
Michelle noticed the concern in Tony's eyes. She nodded her head.
"Yes. To both. Did you?"
"Yeah. Although…" He paused.
Michelle reached over and placed her hand on Tony's arm. They both felt the electricity surge through them.
"What is it?" she asked him gently.
Tony sighed and then stared straight into her eyes.
"I er. I, I couldn't stop thinking about you."
Michelle blushed slightly, and instantly regretted how she had no control over blushing and prayed Tony wouldn't notice. But he did, he noticed her cheeks turning pink. To him, it only highlighted her beautiful face even more.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you either Tony."
His face lit up and he broke into a big broad smile.
"So, uh. I was wondering. Are you free tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm free tonight. What are you thinking?"
"Well, uh, I was uh, thinking maybe going to catch a movie and then going for dinner or um, uh, *sigh* perhaps going back to my place and I can cook you dinner?" He darted his eyes away from hers.
Michelle studied Tony's face intently. She could see it took a lot of courage for him to ask her out. His eyes told the whole story. He was afraid she would take offence at the latter suggestion.
She leaned closer to him, moved her hand from his arm and touched his face briefly. The mere touch of her skin, sent shivers down Tony's spine.
"Dinner at your place sounds great, she smiled.
Tony doubled blinked. Had Michelle just said yes to dinner at his place? He looked back into her eyes and got the confirmation he needed. Her eyes were sparkling with happiness.
"Okay, great. Shall we go straight after work or do you want to go home first?"
"We'll go straight from work. I'll wait for you."
Tony felt winded. This beautiful woman said she'll wait for him. He made a mental note to pinch himself later to check it wasn't a dream.
"Alright." Tony's eyes moved over to the clock. "We'd better get going, Chappelle will only yell at us if we are late."
"Are you okay with us going in together?" Michelle enquired. She knew that a relationship with a fellow colleague was often frowned upon – especially by Ryan Chappelle. With Tony being director of CTU, it was an even bigger risk to take.
"Yeah. It'll be fine. It is possible to bump into each other in the car park from time to time." Tony chuckled softly and Michelle's smile got even wider.
Tony found he couldn't take his eyes of her. It was taking a lot of willpower not to grab her, to feel her lips against his.
Both sat and stared at each other in silence.
"Okay, we really will be late, let's go." Tony unlocked the door and stepped out of the car. Michelle picked up her handbag from the back seat and did the same.
As she straightened herself out, she could feel Tony's eyes boring into her. It sent her pulse racing. She breathed out heavily to steady herself and then put the strap of her handbag on her shoulder and walked round to the front of her car where Tony was waiting.
The looked into each others eyes again for a moment and then walked together in silence to the entrance of CTU. All the way, Tony was thinking how much he wanted to hold her hand and Michelle was thinking how much she wanted him to hold her hand.
Caroline noticed Michelle looking up at Tony's office again. It was still empty as it had been for most of the day.
She walked over to Michelle's desk and got straight to the point.
"Chelle, I've noticed you keep looking up at Tony's office. Is there something going on between you two?"
Michelle was startled she had been so easily rumbled, thought she had been discreet with the occasional glance up to his office.
She looked up at Caroline who was patiently waiting for an answer.
"No. No there's not Caroline. I just have to speak with Tony about something. It's quite important but I guess Chappelle is keeping him busy in the meeting."
Michelle immediately felt incredible guilt for lying to someone she considered a friend. She had always prided herself on being honest and truthful with friends, but knew that this was something she couldn't be honest about. Not yet.
Caroline studied Michelle's face. She knew she was not telling the truth but she decided not to push her further.
"Okay. Well, you know, if you ever need to talk…"
Michelle nodded her head "Thank you Caz." And she turned away before she could see her face turn bright red.
Tony leaned against the doorway and sighed deeply. Then the sound of clip-clopping echoed around the corridor. He felt his heart begin to race. She was making her way towards him.
They locked eyes as she gracefully made the last few steps to reach his side.
"Hey." Tony leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Feeling his lips lightly graze her cheek, sent off the butterflies in her stomach. She smiled at him.
"Sorry I was so long; I wanted to make sure everyone was gone before I left the office." They both began to make their way out of the building.
"Ah that's okay, I know what our lot are like for gossip."
"Well I think Caroline is already onto me. She caught me glancing up to your office and came straight out with it, asking if there was anything going on between us."
Tony chuckled. "Oh she did, did she? She always a nose for picking up something in the air."
Michelle noticed he didn't say anything about her glancing up to his office.
"Yeah, but I denied anything was going on. As much as I hated myself for lying to her."
Tony suddenly stopped.
"Whats wrong?" She asked him.
"Uhm, what are we going to do about the cars? Both of us drove here."
"Oh." Michelle paused to think.
"Well I'll just follow you in my car. Is that okay?"
"Yeah of course it is sweetheart."
Tony froze. He could have kicked himself at calling her sweetheart. It rolled right off his tongue. But Michelle looked at him in awe.
"Good, lets get going."
Michelle walked over to her car, climbed in and felt her whole body begin to shake. While they were both at ease with each other, this was really happening. She was driving over to his place. Tony's place. Her boss' place. For a date. A date!
Tony was sat in his own car thinking the same thing. Michelle was coming over to his place. Like right now. Had he cleaned up? He hoped he had. Why had he called her sweetheart? He had never used that word with any woman before. Not even Nina.
He shook his head at his own stupidity and started up the car. As he put the car into gear, he remembered the look in her eyes when he called her sweetheart.
With a shaking hand, Tony unlocked his front door and then moved aside to let Michelle in first. She stepped in and stopped leaving enough room for Tony as he followed her inside and closed the door.
They stood gazing at each other before Tony moved closer to her and held her face in his hands. With both of their hearts racing, he then leaned down and kissed her. Michelle immediately responded and the passion between them almost exploded as they tugged on each others lips. They both groaned hungrily when they finally came up for air.
Tony leant his forehead against Michelle's.
"Do you want to…?"
She looked him in the eyes. "Yes."
Tony reached for Michelle's hand and then led her towards his bedroom.